I've finally decided to go in and houserule the heck out of Pathfinder to get the game to fit what I want out of it. One thing I'm not satisfied with are a lot of the core feats. So I'm going through to see what can be done to make every feat an exciting and tantalizing choice to made and feel like a real power upgrade for the character. Every time a feat is written down on that character sheet it should feel like the moment when an Immortal in Highlander cuts another Immortal's head off.
First, a look at the feat...
PRD wrote:
Quick Draw (Combat)
You can draw weapons faster than most.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: You can draw a weapon as a free action instead of as a move action. You can draw a hidden weapon (see the Sleight of Hand skill) as a move action.
A character who has selected this feat may throw weapons at his full normal rate of attacks (much like a character with a bow).
Alchemical items, potions, scrolls, and wands cannot be drawn quickly using this feat.
Normal: Without this feat, you may draw a weapon as a move action, or (if your base attack bonus is +1 or higher) as a free action as part of movement. Without this feat, you can draw a hidden weapon as a standard action.
This one isn't really a shocker. People often house rule that quick draw should apply to any item and that is the aim here with the revision.
What is interesting with the Pathfinder version of quick draw is that it stats weapons may be drawn as a free action, which is the same as it has been since 3.0, however the line "Alchemical items, potions, scrolls, and wands cannot be drawn quickly using this feat" was added. Technically this is unnecessary, save for alchemical items, as the rest are not weapons. Still, the developers felt that this idea that only weapons could be used with the feat needed to be hammered home. They REALLY didn't want those potions of healing to be quick drawed.
So I would just change the opening line to "You can draw an item as a free action..." and scrub away the clarification that all of those other items do not qualify for the feat.
Overall I think the entire feat and equipment ought to have been handled differently.
It should have been that you had to buy sheaths and the like, rather than assume they come with the weapon. Then you could have a series of weapons that are tagged with "Quick Drawable", much in the same way that certain weapons are "finessable." That way characters would get sheaths, bandoleers, holsters, belt pouches, etc. If you have that storage item and using it with the appropriate item then you could use the quick draw feat with it to draw as a free action, otherwise it would be a move action. Likewise, there would be storage items, such as backpacks, sacks, satchels, etc. that did not have the quick draw feature and thus you'd have to rummage around to find an item and need to use a standard action.
